THE CLIMATE CRISIS HASN'T BEEN PUT ON HOLD

As Becca explained so well in last week’s post on the Refugee Crisis, it is vital that we, as Christians, maintain a Jesus-centred outlook during this hectic and unsettling time. Although the pandemic can seem all consuming on an individual level, we must not forget those who are vulnerable and suffering from injustice around the world. For many, Covid-19 has only exacerbated their situations, meaning that their wellbeing, security, and even their lives are more at stake. In striving to seek God’s Kingdom, we want to understand these issues, and find ways that we can take action to love others and seek justice for people all around the world!

This week, we want to explore deeper into the issue of climate change. Last Saturday, Just Love hosted a virtual gathering to discuss some of the following important questions. What is climate change? How is it affecting God’s creation and mankind? What is the impact of Covid-19 on this global issue? And what is our responsibility to act as Christians?

The earth’s temperature is increasing at an unprecedented rate. This is because of the huge increase in the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere since industrialisation. These emissions primarily come from the consumption of fossil fuels, as well as from processes such as intensive meat and dairy farming. Furthermore, mass deforestation not only destroys ecosystems and threatens extinction of many vulnerable species, but reduces one of earth’s most valuable resources for the reabsorption of carbon dioxide.

Climate change is occurring so fast that the earth cannot adapt at the same speed. We are not prepared.

The effects of climate change are widespread.

Sea levels are rising, and more acidic oceans are affecting aquatic ecosystems and causing major disruptions in the food chain. Across the globe, an estimated one million species are threatened by extinction, as they cannot adapt fast enough to the changing climate [1].

In some parts of the world, extreme drought is causing devastating effects on food production and agriculture, reducing the availability of freshwater, and increasing the risk of wildfires. This means that more and more communities are facing starvation and dehydration, and threat to their homes and livelihoods. In other areas, catastrophic flooding is increasing the spread of waterborne disease, contaminating fresh water supplies, destroying infrastructure, and displacing people on mass. Changes in climate are affecting the distribution of viruses and bugs, and thus illnesses may become more widespread and unpredictable. The economic and health related impacts on communities are vast.

It is estimated that every year, more than 250,000 extra deaths will occur due to the effects of climate change from 2030, due to causes such as diarrhoea, heat stress, and malnutrition [2].

Furthermore, the increasing temperature is causing Arctic sea ice to melt, threatening a ticking time bomb of the release of methane from the ocean floor, an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide [3].

Global events such as Covid-19 only make matters worse. For example, people who have been displaced and forced out of their homes have nowhere to go to self-isolate. This can be seen from people who lost their homes during the UK flooding earlier this year, the Australian and Californian wildfires, and many other extreme weather events throughout the world. In places where infrastructure and health care systems have been far overstretched or collapsed due to the impact of natural disasters and subsequent poverty, it is safe to say that responding to a global pandemic may be an impossible task. For example, a country further plunged into poverty by a 2010 earthquake, Haiti is the ‘most vulnerable nation in the Americas to the coronavirus’. With under 60 ventilators serving a population of 11 million people, and a collapsing healthcare system, there are fears that the country may never recover if it faces a severe outbreak of the virus [4].

Drastic action must be taken to limit the warming of the earth, yet reports from the UN suggest that we have an ever narrowing window to do so before it's too late. The Paris Agreement in 2015 saw world leaders commit to limiting global warming to a 2 degrees increase by 2100, and aspired towards a 1.5 degree cap. Both require ‘rapid, far reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’, and a 45% cut of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, before achieving net zero carbon emission status by 2050 [5].

In the bible, Genesis describes God’s creation of the earth - the sky, the sea, and the land, and all plants and creatures that lived within them. God saw that his creation was good, and blessed mankind with all of the wonders of the world as a gift of love for his people. However, these gifts of life and the means with which to live are not given to us for us to exploit. As Christians, we are told that the ‘the earth is the Lord’s’ (Psalm 24:1), and that ‘the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it’ (Genesis 2:15), to ‘be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground’. This is God’s call to his people to look after his beautiful creation.

God provided us with all that we needed to thrive. This means that how we look after the earth is not only about how we safeguard God’s valuable creation, but also reflects how we respond to God’s love for us as his people.

However, as the World Council of Churches articulated:

‘Creation has been misused and we face threats to the balance of life, a growing ecological crisis and the effects of climate change. These are signs of our disordered relations with God, with one another, and with creation, and we confess that they dishonour God’s gift of life’ [6].

As discussed, climate change has a very real human impact. It threatens the well being, security, and fulfillment of basic human rights such as food, water and shelter of people all over the world. Unfortunately, it is often those who are already most vulnerable and living in poverty who feel the worst effects.

Throughout the bible, we are told to love other people as Jesus loves us. As it is put in 1 John 4:11, ‘Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another’. This love is not only a feeling or of kind words and intention, but a call to action. ‘My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and truth’ (1 John 3:18). We are called by God to face the injustices of the world, to protect those in danger, and to speak up for those who are vulnerable in society. As Christians, we cannot be silent and lay low on a global issue that is threatening so many of God’s beloved children and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

‘Climate change is one illustration of the disintegration that results from displacing God from the relationship of God, humanity, and earth’ [7].

So, our response to climate change is fundamentally representative of how we relate to God’s creation, how we respond to God’s love, and how we can all take every opportunity to love the world and all its people the way that the Father loves us.

There is hope!

Many actors within and outside the Christian community are making lifestyle choices, using their voices to inspire change, speaking out against unsustainable industries, and encouraging others to join them in doing so!

Among many other initiatives, Operation Noah provides an avenue for the Christian response to climate change, with a mission to ‘work with the church to inspire action of the climate crisis’. It aims to educate and inform churches about the theological importance of taking action against climate change, and to support them in using their voices to spread awareness to their wider communities.

Christian bloggers such as Ethical Unicorn, otherwise known as Francesca Willow, provide practical advice and inspiration on how to take individual and collective actions to protect, love and speak out for the injustices facing creation and God’s people as a result of climate change.

Check out either of these resources or be inspired to do some of your own research to look for ways that you can advocate, act, and inspire change in your own life and your community!

This is an hour of opportunity for God’s children to stand up and defend God’s creation and his people against one of the biggest threats of our generation. To show love in all that we do, towards people, and the planet. To culture an attitude of thanksgiving in the way that we steward God’s gift of the earth and all of the life that it gives us.

Rosie x

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/mass-extinction-climate-change-animal-evolution-study-science-nature-a9017591.html

[2] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health

[3] http://operationnoah.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Climate-and-Gospel-David-Atkinson-30-01-2015.pdf

[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-52324225?fbclid=IwAR1D5fEjqNuL5CUp3Oo6B59bM0BOUuEVNCbEMzMHHRURuEL7kvvRP3aPpi8

[5] https://report.ipcc.ch/sr15/pdf/sr15_spm_final.pdf

[6] WorldCouncilof Churches, 10th Assembly, November2013, para.2

[7] http://operationnoah.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Climate-and-Gospel-David-Atkinson-30-01-2015.pdf